Sunday, June 24, 2007

Do you remember the first time you had peanut butter? Peanut butter wasn't much of a thing in Finland when I was growing up (understatement), so I do. I was a slow convert to the peanut butter straight up, not mixed with anything school (and I still don't get the PBJ sandwich, but then I don't want jelly anywhere near my sandwiches anyway), but used in spicy sauces (and peanut butter cookies, but that's a bit different) it has a more instant appeal, adding this smooth and creamy depth to, er, whatever you're mixing it with.

A noodle salad with carrots, bell pepper and scallions, in this case. The sauce is really the star of this thing, fabulously spicy and satisfying, so obviously you could, and should, play around with the amount and type of vegetables. (I did make it again later on with chicken, and that was lovely too, and for a more nutritionally balanced vegetarian option, mung sprouts would be lovely.) I chose to mix in just half of the dressing before serving, so everyone could add more to their plates according to taste.

(I find julienning things therapeutic. If you don't, this dish is going to be a lot less fun to prepare.)

Combine the ingredients for the sauce in a food processor and blend until smooth. (I find that you need to chop the chili really finely for this to work at all, but your mileage may vary.)

Bring a pot of water to the boil and throw in the carrots and bell pepper. Add the rice noodles, take off the heat and let stand for however long it says on the package. (3 minutes in this case, which was just perfect for the veggies.) Drain and run under cold water, then drain well again. Mix in the scallions and enough sauce to make it nice and slick. Serve as is or cold, with more sauce on the side.

14 comments:

Yes I agree with Meeta! The colour of that salad is just beautiful. I've been meaning to make a noodle salad for sometime now but didn't know what else to do instead of my usual glass noodle salad. Coincidentally, it reminds me of this, which I wanted to try, but never had time to. Now this time I must get down to it.

I agree with everybody!! But what is 'pizazz'?! This looks gorgeaus and sounds delicious :-P Reveal your julienning secrets will you, why can't I manage to create such neat pieces?

I too remember the first time I had peanut butter and actually haven't had it that many times but once even made it myself. At least in satay sauce it's brilliant and also I enjoy it au naturel. I had it on rice cakes awhile ago, good together.

So you had this for mignight summer's festival, I'm excited to find out what else!

Meeta, yes! I'm usually a winter food person, the mushier and heartier the better, but this is such a favorite for me.

Evinrude, oh, that looks so interesting, too!

Anne, hope you like it.

Ylimuuli, I don't know about secret, but I have my KitchenAid slice the things, then I stack about five or so slices on top of each other and cut those into strips. I'm not sure when I'll get to post the Midsummer foods, since I'm in the middle of packing for my vacation (just in time for the weather to turn, it seems).

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A Note on Measurements

If I for some reason neglect to give out measurments in both metric and imperial units, Google is your friend and will ensure that you lose all ability to calculate conversions in your head. If you had any to begin with, that is, which I certainly didn't. Just type in [amount] [original units] in [desired unit] and hit search.
Furthermore, 1 dl = 100 ml.